The Desert Calls (ePub)

A nomad camp, in the middle of nowhere, a few tents, a mud oven, carpets on the ground. There is a wedding, everyone is eating, singing, playing drum, parading unusual gifts. But who is the foreign woman who came with one of the nomads? And how did she end up there, among strange yet friendly people, miles away from home and her safe world?

Simona feels her life is a mess. She comes from a normal family, lives in a normal town, has a normal degree in Modern Languages, a normal job and a normal relationship. But normality, which her mother has always dreamed for her, appalls her. She feels she is doomed to wither away in a safe but unexciting marriage and a dreary office job. She seeks answers in New Age, self-help, religious and psychology books, in Qi Kong, yoga courses and meditation. She yearns for change. Then one day the desert calls her, in an unexpected way.

Said also longs to change his life. He was born into a nomad family, grew up living in tents and following their flocks across the Sahara until severe drought drove them to settle in the little village of Hassi Labied. He speaks fluently six or seven languages which he picked up selling fossils to tourists ever since he was a child. Said feels doomed too: destined to marry a woman from the village, to work - if at all - in tourism and never see anything beyond the desert horizon. But he decides simply to wait. He believes in destiny.

They have nothing in common and yet...

This is the true story of how a chance meeting in the Sahara transformed the lives of these two very different people.

Set in the magical atmospheres of the desert this book takes the reader on an exciting journey of self-discovery, back in time to hear stories about the fascinating nomads and through the exotic charm of Morocco.